Car-coupling



(No Model.)

C. H. W. RELYEAv GAR GUUPLING.

Patented Apr. 24, 1894.

i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES II. W. RELYEA, OF NORTH ADAMS, MICHIGAN.

lCARCOUPL.ING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,745, dated April 24, 1894.

Application filed January 17, 1894. Serial No. 497,122. (No model.)

tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v

My invention relates to an improvement in car couplers. y

The invention will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, and then particularlypointedout in the claim.

In the drawings-Figure l is a plan View 'of two couplers in their locked or coupled position. Fig. 2 is a side View of one of the couplers. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of thesame. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

Referring to the drawings, A isa draw head having a forked or bifurcated front consisting of an upper or top plate, a., and a lower plate a', these plates preferably being cast integral with the draw head. In the inner face of each plate is formed a recess a2 for a purpose hereinafter described, a pin hole as being formed in each plate near the end of each recess, the pin holes being in register with each other. The upper plate is provided, near the end of the draw head, with a longitudinal slot d4 and in the lower plate immediately below this slot is formed a recess a5, sloping at its bottom, being deepest near its front end and inclining upward toward the rear. To the top of the top plate is attached a pair of ears 0r6, one on each side of the slot, a, each ear having a bolt hole, a7, for a purpose hereinafter referred to. The front end of each plate is rounded off, as at, as.

Between the upper and lower plates is provided a movable jaw, B,which has an enlarged head, b, projecting beyond the plates, being concaved as at, b', these concavities fitting against the rounded portions, 0,8, of the plates.

The jaw, B, has a pair of lugs b3 which t in the recesses a2 in the plates, being smaller than said recesses, and thereby permitting a limited amount of angular motion of the jaw. A pin hole passes through thejaw near the ends of the lugs, as at b4, this pin-hole registering with the pin-holes a3 in the plates; a heavy pin or bolt C passing through the holes in the plates and inthe jaw and serving to pivotally hold the jaw. This pin is arranged to bein thelongitudinal central vertical plane of the draw head, in order that all lateral strains may be avoided. The jaw is provided with a transverse arm b5 which is engaged by the jawof the opposite coupler, in coupling two cars, and is forced backward, thereby swinging its own jaw into engagement with the jaw of the opposite coupler. The said transverse arm normally rests against a projecting shoulder a9 which is cast integral with ceiving the impact of the opposite coupler. The front end of the jaw has a pair of laterally extending lugs b@ which have link-pin holes 197 to receive the ordinary link-pin when necessary to couple a car provided with my improved coupler to an ordinary link-pin coupler. The rear end of the jaw is provided with a rearward and laterally extending spur be having a diagonal slot b9.

In the ears a is pivoted a coupling dog or pin D, having two arms at an obtuse angle with each other, as shown, a bolt E, passing through the holes a7 and through a bolt hole d in the dogDand serving asa fulcrum. `The upper surface of the top plate and is weighted at its forward end, as shown at cl2, being also provided with a lug cl3 having a hole d4, as shown. The long arm d5 of the dog extends downward and backward, passing through the slot 'at and normally resting with its lower end in the shallowest part of the recess, a5, the said long arm being adapted to swing forward when the weighted end of the short arm is'raised, and when thus swinging forward to engage the diagonal slot b9 in the jaw B, and thus to crowd the inner end of the jaw to one side, thereby swinging the front end of the jaw in the opposite direction and serving to move the jaw into its uncoupled position. In order that the long arm of the dog may move with less friction in the diagonal slot it has its corners beveled as at d, C17, and di.

the upper and lower plates, this shoulderre-4 short arm d. of the dog normally rests on the IOC In order to raise the front end of the short arm of the dog D and thereby uneouple the jaw from any opposite one with which it may be engaged, an operating shaft F is provided being mounted in bearings f, fixed on the car and having a cranked outer end f and an inner end f2 cranked at right angles to the outer end, the latter cranked end being attached by a link G to the lug d3 of the dog D in any suitable manner.

The operation of my improved coupler is obvious from the description above given.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a car coupler, the combination of a draw head having its extremity bifurcated whereby a top plate and a bottom plate are formed, the Said top plate and bottom plate provided with registering pin holes extending through them and having on their adjacent faces recesses a2, extending radially from said pin holes, the

jaw B, pivoted at the pin holes in said top and bottom plates and provided on opposite sides with projections or lugs of less width than and arranged in the recesses in the adjacent faces of said plates, said jaw having a lateral lug at its forward end and a transverse arm between said shoulder and the pivot point, said arm engaging when in its locked position some fixed portion of the draw head, the rear end of the jaw being provided with an inclined slot, and an uncoupling lever D, pivoted in the draw head behind the rear end of the jaw and in position to engage the inclined slot therein, said lever having its up- .per end weighted and bent forward, substan- 

